The present invention relates to telephone set devices, and, more particularly, relates to telephone set devices capable of vocalizing the telephone extension number being called when the telephone rings.
As is well known in the prior art, the ringer of a telephone is made of coils and a metal bell. It has the disadvantages of large size and heavy weight. To overcome these disadvantages, instead of traditional ringers, most telephone set manufacturers use telephone integrated circuits (ICs) which are in small size, light weight, and which can be adapted to circuit boards. This kind of IC ringer is more popular with users due to its sweet ringing sound, although the ring volume of this IC ringer is lower than that of a mechanical ringer.
Nowadays, the ringer of the IC ringer telephone set is emitted from the speaker or the buzzer of the telephone set. The volume and tone of this kind of ringer can be adjusted. However, when many telephone extensions are installed in close proximity at a location, for example in an office, sometimes many people simultaneously search for a ringing telephone set since it is difficult to identify which particular one is ringing. Moreover, when a telephone rings, the activities of all those hearing the ringing are interrupted.
FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration of a conventional ringer circuit. The basic configuration of the ringer circuit includes: ring IC 10, buzzer 20, several resistors, and several capacitors. Ring IC 10 can be a dual-frequency oscillator. Resistor 21 and capacitor 22 can be used to control the oscillating frequency. Generally all prior art ring circuits typically have a basic configuration similar to the one shown in FIG. 1. When the ring signal is input, the ring circuit can only request a ring tone or allow for the adjustment of the volume or frequency of the ring. In fact, the telephone sets used in an office are typically the same kind, the tones of the telephone sets thus being very similar. This makes it difficult for the users to be able to identify which specific telephone is ringing.
The present invention provides a telephone set device which is capable of vocalizing the telephone number being called. The present invention utilizes voice synthesizing technology to pre-store in the ring IC the data representative of the sound of the numbers and words defined by the users. Therefore, when the ring signal is input ton the telephone set, the telephone set can recite the sound of the telephone number and particular words along with the ringing, or alternatively only the telephone number and particular words. As a result, users can easily identify which telephone is being called.
In particular, a telephone set device capable of vocalizing a telephone number being called of the present invention includes: line interface circuit, serving as an interface between the tip and ring wires of a standard telephone circuit and the internal circuit; ring detector for detecting whether a ring signal is being input; controller, providing input ports for the signals output from line interface circuit, keypad, and ring detector, wherein when ring detector detects an input ring signal, and transmits a signal to controller, and controller outputs a corresponding address data pre-stored in the internal memory to number voice generator; hybrid circuit for dividing the connecting terminals of the line interface into a voice input and a voice output; ring tone generator for outputting the ring tone under the control of ring detector; keypad for inputting the controlling ring or the number signal to the controller, and for setting the address data in an internal memory of controller to output the voice and ring tone set by users with the usage of the specific keys and the number keys; DTMF generator for generating DTMF signals to represent each key on keypad; number voice generator for receiving the address data from controller, and decompressing the compressed voice data retrieved from the internal memory into voice signals; amplifier for amplifying and outputting the ring tone signal from ring generator and the words from number voice generator to speaker; which device for cutting off the voice signal from the handset under the control of DTMF generator when DTMF generator outputs a DTMF signal; handset for receiving/transmitting voice respectively with a receiver, such as an earphone, and a transmitter, for example a microphone; and speaker, connected to amplifier, for vocalizing the decompressed